To preserve the value of diamonds in the eyes of the next generation’s consumers, there’s a job to be done by stakeholders at every point in the diamond pipeline, according to a panel of experts convened at JCK Las Vegas.
The panel, sponsored by SRK Exports (Shree Ramkrishna Exports Pvt. Ltd.), a global polished diamond supplier and De Beers sightholder, was organized to celebrate SRK’s new branding strategy and latest e-commerce platform.
It featured moderator Rob Bates, news director of JCK magazine, and panelists Tom Moses, executive vice president and chief laboratory and research officer at the Gemological Institute of America; Erik Jens, CEO, Diamond and Jewellery clients, ABN Amro bank; and Paul Rowley, executive vice president of global sightholder sales at De Beers.
“We need to understand how our customers are changing,” said Rowley. “Storytelling should be key, because that’s the way to reach today’s consumers.”
The GIA’s Moses then told a story about viewing the Hope Diamond during a behind-the-scenes visit to the Smithsonian Institution’s gem collection at the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals in Washington, D.C.
There, he learned a story about the last owner of the Hope Diamond, Evalyn Walsh McLean, who along with wearing the diamond regularly, also allowed the children in her household to play hide-and-seek with the famous gem–even while outdoors.
